This event will present Hefang Wei’s two short animations. It invokes us to rethink femininity and visual representation.

About this event

Animation is about imagination and creativity. How do female animators demonstrate female emotion, desire and sexuality through their creative works? Hefang Wei integrates legendary female figures into lushly imaginative worlds that centre on women’s subjectivity and initiative. This event will present Hefang Wei’s two short animated films. It invokes us to rethink the relationship between femininity and aesthetics, visual representation and reality. Hefang Wei will also share her experience as a female director in the male-dominated animation industries in China and Europe.

Schedule of Events:

13:00: Screening The Banquet of the Concubine (2012) and Bird Flu (2016)

13:30: Q&A with Director Hefang Wei

The Banquet of the Concubine (2012)

Language: Mandarin (English subtitle) | Duration: 12′ 46” minutes | Animation, Short

Set in the Tang Dynasty in 746, this film demonstrates unsatisfied craving, suspected infidelity and fevered imagination of the emperor’s favourite concubine.

Montréal World Film Festival 2012: Jury Prize (Short Films)

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2013: Animated Dreams Grand Prize Wooden Wolf

César Awards 2014: Nominated for Best Animated Film

Bird Flu (2016)

Duration: 10 minutes | Animation, Short

As an interpretation of the classical story of the fall from Paradise, it ought to be comprehensible and create associations in the context of every culture.

Nominated for the 2016 Annecy International Animation Festival

About Director Hefang Wei:

Animation film director, producer, and academic. Hefang Wei received her degree in Animated Film Directing from La Poudrière, a prestigious art school with a reputation for training animation film directors in France. Her films have been selected and awarded in many international festivals, including the Jury Prize for “Espoirs de l’Animation” at the Festival International du Film d’Animation d’Annecy, and the Best French Animated Short Film Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

In 2012, Hefang Wei joined one of the most influential animation studios in Europe, Folimage. She has worked as an animation director on numerous projects for Chinese and European television stations. She involves in the jury boards of numerous international film and animation festivals. She is also a lecturer at New York University and other universities worldwide.

Chairs:

Dr Xiang Fan
Tutor at the Goldsmiths, University of London.
Specialised Programme Lead Curator in the UK-China Film Collab

Fei Tian
MA at the University of Sussex with 8 years of work experience in cinema management in China

Technical Instructions:

After your registration, an email will be sent before the event take place with links to both the private screening and the Q&A. The film will begin at 13:00 on time.